Note: we are republishing this story, which originally made the news in July 2017,  amid a surge in reported confrontations between food workers and customers during the coronavirus pandemic. 

McDonald’s is conducting an investigation after an employee at a Virginia franchise reportedly refused to serve a police officer in uniform.

Cathy Naff has accused a McDonald’s employee of refusing to serve her husband, Scott Naff, who had just finished a 13 hour shift, according to the Daily Mail.

Cathy explained what happened in a Facebook post:

My husband just got home from working a 13 hour day to share a story with me that has left me completely shocked.

Around 7:00 tonight he took a small break and went to the drive through of the Mcdonald’s at Parham Road and Route 1. He was in uniform and his police vehicle. He paid for his food and drove forward to the next window.

The young man who was working that window looked at him and backed away from the window mouthing something to my husband. My husband couldn’t hear him since the window was closed. The guy finally walked to the window and slid it open.

My husband told him that he couldn’t hear him and the guy said “I ain’t serving no police” and closed the window. The guy proceeded to tell everyone in McDonald’s, including the manager, that he was not going to serve the police. The employees stared at my husband trying to figure out what they should do…..after all he had paid for his food but no one wanted to give it to him.

Finally one guy brought it over to him without a single word. As my husband pulled around the building, a gentleman who was in the McDonalds at the time approached his car and told my husband how he had never seen anything like this.

He said the guy had told the manager that she could fire him but he wasn’t going to “serve the police.” The manager did nothing to help the situation and wasn’t even the person who brought him his food.

It’s amazing that people can act this way but even more shocking that the manager allowed him to continue on with his antics. I know that we will never visit this McDonald’s again! This is such an eye opener for me as to what the people who protect us have to go through on a daily basis. Please pray for the men and women who serve and protect us and put their lives on the line for us each and every day.

The post quickly spread on social media, prompting McDonald’s to issue a statement in response.

“At our restaurants, we are dedicated to serving all of our customers, including the police officers who protect and serve our communities,” the fast food chain said in the statement, according to Blue Lives Matter. “We are conducting a full investigation into this matter and will take appropriate actions.”

Cathy Naff later shared a follow-up post regarding the incident:

Immediately after this happened my husband emailed a complaint to corporate. Late last night he received a standard email back thanking him for his concern. We called the franchise owner yesterday who said they were going to look into this.

They called us back 5 hours later and said they had let the young man go but the manager is saying she knew nothing about this. When we told him the information about the manager he said he would look into this further.

My husband is one of the calmest, kindest, most level headed guys I know. This should’ve never happened to him or anyone else. Others have privately shared with us throughout this ordeal that the same behavior happened to them at the same restaurant.

For McDonald’s to be questioning the validity of this story is an outrage. Thank you for all the support….not just for my husband but for law enforcement officers everywhere! The bottom line is that we shouldn’t treat anyone…..uniform or not in the manner this McDonald’s has been treating people. Every person should be treated with respect!

Sources: Daily Mail, Blue Lives Matter